Science Boot Camp for Librarians – Scholarship Recipient Post 10

Posted by karencoghlan on October 16th, 2018 Posted in: Blog
Tags: Data, data_science, eScience, science librarians

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This is the tenth blog post in a series authored by twelve individuals who received scholarships to attend the 2018 Science Boot Camp held at Brandeis University on June 13-15, 2018. For more about this year’s Science Boot Camp resources or other upcoming events, please visit the NNLM NER website, or contact anyone in the NNLM NER office.

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New England Science Boot Camp 2018 – Anne Marie Engelsen

The Science Duck of Science Boot Camp, giving good advice about dragons.

NE Science Boot Camp for Librarians Scholarship Winner Blog Post

This year’s Science Boot Camp, hosted at Brandeis University), was another lesson of the highs and lows in all aspects of life for me. I was fortunate to receive a scholarship to attend the 2018 Boot Camp, which I was thrilled about (Boston! Science! Librarians! Yay!). However, I was unfortunate to have a raging cold the entire time. With the inner strength seemingly inherent to librarians (and a whole lot of Dayquil), I was able to enjoy my time at Science Boot Camp, learn so many interesting things, and meet some fantastic science librarians from all over.

Now that I’m back in the comfort of my library, I’d like to share 10 highlights and lessons I’ve learned from the three days at boot camp:

1. Retraction Watch. My absolute favorite lecture of the conference was from Dr. Ivan Oransky of Retraction Watch. I loved that he took the initiative to contact a conference of librarians and ask to speak about his website- it is such an important tool in scholarly communication. I was delighted to learn that they are developing a Retraction Watch database (still in beta). The sheer amount of retractions makes it hard for them to report on all of them, but having them in a searchable database can help researchers double check their references or help show trends in retractions.
2. Lozenges. Having a stash of cough drops in your purse can be the most important decision you make during the long lectures (and it can make you friends!).
3. Twitter. Twitter is the place to be for librarians. Lots of conversations and information is shared on twitter, including other librarian’s takes on the conferences you attend. The official conference hashtag (#sciboot18) allowed me to contribute information related to the speakers’ subjects and let me follow the reactions of my fellow librarians in real time. I’ve made it a goal to be more involved on twitter in the coming year. So many important discussions are happening around librarianship and science in general on the platform- as a science librarian in a relatively isolated place, Twitter is a great way to stay connected.
4. Community. Librarians answer questions, even seemingly rhetorical ones. It’s what we do. We also fight for free, openly accessible information, the privacy of our patrons, and the pursuit of knowledge. I feel so content when I’m with a large group of librarians- the general inquisitiveness and ability to stand up and demand answers reaffirms my love for the profession in an indescribable way. I know I’m not alone when I say that the most valuable parts of Boot Camp are the people involved, networking, and making new librarian friends.
5. Citizen Science. Ecology is a broad field with vast applications, looking at individual species to entire biospheres. The future of Ecology, according to the speakers, Dr. Miranda Davis (University of Connecticut) and Dr. Brian Olsen (Brandeis University), will focus on environmental changes, holistic approaches, and big data. One of the contributors to big data is citizen science- crowdsourcing data from everyday wildlife enthusiasts through various websites and apps. One of these is iNaturalist, an app that allows any member to upload sightings of flora and fauna while out and about, provides data for researches, and even allows members to get species identifications from experts.
6. Possums. Tick-borne diseases are becoming an increasing problem in ever-increasing areas of North America. Possums, widely impugned as being pests, eat ticks that carry those diseases. Therefore, possums are our friends.
7. Evaluation. Researchers are often turned off of Open Access because they are worried about journal quality. Luckily, librarians have them covered: Carolyn Mills, librarian at University of Connecticut created this handy Evaluating Journal Quality LibGuide with a Creative Commons Attribution so we can share.
8. ‘Magical’ Science. The Materials Science lectures, from Christopher Schuh (MIT) and Seth Fraden (Brandeis University), were displays of incredible innovation. Schuh, Director of the Materials Science and Engineering department at MIT, brought materials created by researchers in his department that show how magical this branch of science is – they have made big items shrink to a tiny size and have changed heavy metals to be feather-light – while Fraden’s lab at Brandeis has created animated particles from those that were once static. With these kinds of technologies, we’re just one great discovery away from “Wingardium Leviosa!”.  
9. Mentors. Part of winning an early-career librarian scholarship to Boot Camp was the opportunity to have a mentor to connect with before, during, and after the experience. My mentor was Sue O’Dell from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. It was great to meet another science librarian in Maine and get to hear some great advice about professional development and science librarianship in general. I’ve said it before, the connections I made at Boot Camp were the most valuable part of the entire experience, hands down.
10. Celebrations. This year was the 10th anniversary of the New England Science Boot Camp for Librarians. The entire camp was filled with small nods to the auspicious occasion, but Thursday night was an official celebration of the history of Boot Camp and, most importantly, the people who made it what it is today. Boot Camp was started with a mission to have an affordable way for science librarians to get together and learn about science in a fun and laid-back atmosphere. The night was filled with games, a photobooth, conversation, a killer science-themed playlist, and the sort of fun that only a group of librarians can supply. Here’s to the next ten years!  

I would like to thank the scholarship committee for making it possible for me to attend Boot Camp this year. I loved the whole experience (aside from my cold) and I can’t wait to return next year!

Anne Marie Engelsen
Science Reference Librarian
Fogler Library | University of Maine

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I hope you enjoy the latest installment of the Science Boot Camp for librarians. To read the first post please click here.